


Quit Playing Games with My Heart

by MimiWritesHerFandoms



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Mild Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2020-01-05 17:27:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18370691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MimiWritesHerFandoms/pseuds/MimiWritesHerFandoms
Summary: Loving Tony Stark isn't easy.





	Quit Playing Games with My Heart

**Author's Note:**

> Written for @thefanficfaerie's Backstreet Boys Challenge. My prompt was Quit Playing Games with my Heart w/Tony Stark. I used the song mostly as inspiration.

 

You loved him, you’d loved him for years, but he wasn’t good for you. If it was possible to turn back time, you would have done it, you would have walked away before he could tear you apart, before he played games with your heart. Before he destroyed the love you had.

It was too late for that.

* * *

You and Tony met in college, two young geniuses thrust into the college life before you were even eighteen. You were a few months younger than him, scared out of your mind, homesick, nervous, and completely out of your element. Even though Tony was the same age as you, he had this cocky assurance about him that you envied and desperately wanted to emulate. For some reason you couldn’t fathom, you and Tony became friends, spending every free moment you had together. You fell in love with him, and you thought - hoped - that he loved you.

You thought you’d be together forever, that yours was a love that would last. You were together all through college and even for a while after, but after graduation, Tony changed. He wanted freedom, wanted to express himself, to sow his wild oats, and he couldn’t do that with a girlfriend mucking things up. You broke up and you spent the next six months reading about Tony Stark’s escapades in the tabloids, your heart breaking a little bit more everyday.

Your phone rang early one Sunday morning, dragging you from a Tony Stark dream plagued sleep, but by the time you got to it, no one was there. You sat staring at it, waiting, somehow knowing that it would ring again. Sure enough, it rang about ten minutes later.

“Hello,” you breathed.

“Hey, sweetheart,” Tony’s slurred voice mumbled.

“Tony,” you sighed. “Are you okay? You sound like you’ve been drinking.”

“I miss you,” he said, ignoring your question.

“I miss you, too,” you whispered. You weren’t lying, you did miss him. Even though you knew, in your heart, deep in your soul, that nothing was like it used to be, that nothing would ever be the same, you still missed him.

“I need to see you.”

“For you, the door’s always open. All you have to do is find me.”

You had no idea how much you would come to regret those words.

* * *

The death of Tony’s parents tore the two of you apart a second time. He pushed everyone away, allowing only Rhodey in, keeping everyone else at arm’s length. Tony went on a downward spiral, self-destructive behavior following self-destructive behavior, one right after the other without an end in sight.

Unable to deal with the things Tony was putting you through - the drinking, the constant partying, and sadly, what you suspected was infidelity - you left him, reminding him yet again that you would be there if he needed you.

The next time you saw Tony was two years later, at a conference in Berlin. He sought you out after hearing your speech, an almost shy smile on his face. He took you to dinner, then drinks in his room, and before you even knew what happened, the two of you were waking up in his bed, sheets wrapped around your naked body, your hand in Tony’s. You teased him about knowing just how to wine and dine you. He laughed a bit too quickly at that comment, but you brushed it off.

Tony walked you to your room and kissed you goodbye with a promise to find you later. Three hours later you overheard the conference organizer saying that Mr. Stark had left due to an emergency with his company. He hadn’t even said goodbye. You found yourself in the bathroom crying shortly thereafter, wondering yet again why you kept letting Tony into your heart.

Loving Tony was hard, but for some reason you kept trying, but every time you tried, he broke you. And every time, you promised yourself you wouldn’t fall for him again, that you wouldn’t let him in, that you wouldn’t let yourself love Tony Stark.

And every time you fell right back in love.

* * *

Tony’s disappearance, his kidnapping at the hands of the Ten Rings, nearly killed you. You couldn’t sleep, couldn’t eat, you couldn’t do anything. You laid in your bed, curled in the fetal position, your cell phone clutched in your hands, waiting for a phone call telling you Tony was dead. You refused to turn on the television, the radio, anything, because the rumors about Tony and his impending demise at the hands of a group of terrorists were too much to bear. You wouldn’t believe it unless you heard it directly from Obadiah Stain’s mouth.

When the call finally came, it wasn’t from Obadiah, but instead it was from Happy.

“He’s alive, Y/N,” he breathed. “Tony’s alive.”

“He is? You’re sure?”

“He’s on a plane with Rhodey, flying back to the States, as we speak. He should land in a few hours.”

“How is he?” you asked.

“Not good. That’s all Rhodey will say. Do you want to come with me to the airport?”

“No,” you shook your head. “I don’t think he’ll want me there.”

“You’re wrong -”

“Tell him I’m glad he’s okay and I miss him.” You disconnected the call and closed your eyes. Relief flooded you. Tony was alive.

* * *

“I can’t do this anymore, Tony. I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

“Y/N, wait.” He reached for you, but you danced out of his grip, your ass hitting the hood of your car.

“I’m done waiting,” you sighed. “I’ve waited for you for years. Years, Tony. But all you do is play games with my heart. You’ve destroyed me, destroyed us, torn us apart.”

“I love you.” He was pleading with you, his chocolate brown eyes brimming with unexpected tears.

You couldn’t let him deter you. You’d made up your mind. This had gone on for far too long.

You blew out a shaky breath and forced yourself to say what you’d come to say. “I finally figured out that I live my life the way I do so you’ll keep coming back to me. Everything I do, everything I’ve ever done, it’s for you. Why is it that you can’t see that?” You waited, but when Tony didn’t answer, as you suspected he wouldn’t, you continued. “Our love was strong, but I don’t think it’s strong enough to overcome this.”

“I’m helping people, saving people,” Tony said. “I’m finally doing the right thing.”

“I know,” you murmured, desperately holding back the tears. “I do. But, I can’t watch you kill yourself. And that’s what’s going to happen if this continues. I’m sorry, Tony, I just can’t.” You spun on your heel and yanked open your car door, falling inside in your haste to get away. You couldn’t spend another minute waiting for Tony to get shot out of the sky or for another insane person to come after him, you couldn’t watch him live with a target on his back.

“I love you, Tony. I really do. That’s why I have to go. I can’t watch you die, I just can’t.” You slammed the car door and hastened to start it, debris flying as you sped down the winding driveway. You turned up the radio, as loud as you could stand it, desperate to drown out the voice screaming in your head.

Even in my heart I see  
_You're not bein' true to me_  
 _Deep within my soul I feel_  
 _Nothing's like it used to be_

_Sometimes I wish I could turn back time_   
_Impossible as it may seem_   
_But I wish I could so bad, baby_   
_Quit playin' games with my heart_

_Quit playin' games with my heart_   
_Before you tear us apart (my heart)_   
_Quit playin' games with my heart_   
_I should've known from the start_   
_You know you got to stop (from my heart)_   
_You're tearing us apart (my heart)_   
_Quit playin' games with my heart_

_I live my life the way_   
_To keep you comin' back to me_   
_Everything I do is for you_   
_So what is it that you can't see_

_Sometimes I wish I could turn back time_   
_Impossible as it may seem_   
_But I wish I could so bad, baby_   
_You better quit playin' games with my heart_

_Quit playin' games with my heart_   
_Before you tear us apart (my heart)_   
_Quit playin' games with my heart_   
_I should've known from the start_   
_You know you got to stop (from my heart)_   
_You're tearing us apart (my heart)_   
_Quit playin' games_

_Baby, baby the love that we had was so strong_   
_Don't leave me hangin' here forever_   
_Oh baby, baby this is not right_   
_Let's stop this tonight_

_Baby, (oh) quit playin' games  
Baby _

_Sometimes I wish I could_   
_Turn back time, impossible as it may seem_   
_But I wish I could so bad, baby_   
_Quit playin' games with my heart_

_Quit playin' games with my heart_   
_Before you tear us apart (my heart)_   
_Quit playin' games with my heart_   
_I should've known from the start_   
_You know you got to stop (from my heart)_   
_You're tearing us apart (my heart)_   
_Quit playin' games with my heart_

_Quit playin' games with my heart  
Baby _

_Quit playin' games with my heart_   
_With my heart_   
_My heart_   
_With my heart_


End file.
